“Another Wild Pegasus… easy on the pegasus” Nexus slurred, slamming the her glass telekinetically on the counter to get the bar ponies attention. 

The pony cast her a disapproving look as he fetched another bottle and slowly worked the cork out.
“Wild Pegasus is just whisky, there’s no ‘easy on the pegasus’” he pointed out as he topped off her glass. There was always one pony who couldn't handle their drink and this young unicorn had been drinking all night, alone. In fact, if she wasn't the only customer he’d probably have barred her after her third glass when she’d butchered some classic Sweetie Belle that’d been playing on the radio.

“That’ll be 5 caps” 

Nexus blinked, blank faced “5 caps for what?”

The barpony fixed her with a face devoid of amusement then rolled his eyes as the unicorn began to crack up and tossed the caps on the counter.

“I’m just messing with you!” the laugh was strained. The kind of laugh somepony uses when their determined not to let their true emotions show.

The barpony grit his teeth as he scooped up the caps and deposited them in the ancient pre-war register 

“Very funny miss”

“I know right! You should have seen the look on your face!” She slammed the bar top with a hoof causing the bottles and glasses on the bar to jump “Priceless!”

“Uh huh, it sure was” the barponies face remained as flat and unamused as it had the first three times she’d made that joke.

“Awh, you sure are one grumpy pony” the mare said having finally stopped snickering. She paused “Hey maybe that’s why this place is so empty. You should smile more! Ponies’ll find that more inviting than the stone face you have now!”

“Excuse me miss but I’m not one for façades. If i’m bored, I look bored, If i’m happy, I look happy. No sense covering up your feelings” He fixed her with another disapproving look as he said this, trying to convey that he’d rather hear whatever sob story she had then listen to her make another joke or worse, he shuddered, butcher another song.

Nexus looked down at the bar, the false smile gone from her face and replaced with one of sorrow instead.

“One month we said” she sniffed as her bloodshot eyes suddenly bulged with tears.

“Here we go” the barpony muttered. He’d worked this bar for many years and could spot a sob story a mile off. The wasteland was a cruel and unforgiving place. Loss was common and many ponies would seek solace in alcohol when they couldn't cope with it. Still, it kept the caps flowing and the bar in business.

“I was just so sure that they’d make it” Nexus said, her voice cracking as she buried her face in her hooves on the bar top. “After all we’d been through, the ponies we lost along the way…”
The barpony cast a steady glance over the mare taking her in fully for the first time. She was thin, like most in the wasteland who didn't have access to proper food. The scars and burns on her coat indicated a hard life of fighting or something similar but it was the sore around her neck and distinctive lack of muscle mass that gave it away for sure.

“Slave?” he enquired casually.

“Uh huh” came the muffled reply from the bar top followed by a hiccup.

“Mmm, a cruel life for sure” the barpony commented dryly “Still, you're free now so what’s to be sad about? Shouldn’t you be drinking in celebration.

Nexus lifted her puffy red face from her hooves and fixed him with a blurred stare.

“There were three of us” she sniffed again. We managed to escape Steelworks together when we’d been only hours from death. Once we got outside we agreed we’d all meet up here in a month if we were still free.” She hiccuped again before breaking into another round of sobs and face planting the bar “And I’m the only one here!”

The barpony awkwardly extended a hood and patted her on the shoulder.
“Hey now. just because they aren’t here doesn’t mean they’ve been captured. Maybe they just got delayed… or had other reasons they couldn’t make it.”

Nexus raised her head from the counter again.
“You think?”

“Sure” he shrugged, “There’s hundreds of other reasons they might not have made it.”
He mentally counted a few of them off. Raiders, mines, disease, starvation, rad-scorpions…
“They’ll probably turn up somewhere eventually.”

Nexus nodded drunkenly.
“Maybe…”

“Besides, even if the worst has happened to them. Do you think they’d want you to be sad? You have your life back. Your freedom! They’d want you to see the world! Make it a better place. Enjoy yourself, have fun. Drink, party, get laid, do some drugs! Hell, you’re a free pony they’d want you to make it count! They wouldn’t want you to spend your time in some backwater town drinking your life away. What kind of existence is that? You should be out there making a difference!”

There was a soft thud, the shattering of glass and the sound of light snoring.

Looking up, the barpony saw Nexus had fallen asleep in her hooves on the counter, knocking the still full glass of Wild Pegasus off the counter and onto the floor.
He sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Well if all it took was an inspiring speech to shut her up I would have done that hours ago” he grumbled, fetching a mop from the store cupboard.